Flashback Attack
by VenusPom
Summary: Takes place after the King of Mars and so on: Cindy tries to hide their relationship from public, but Jimmy invents something for her that makes things much more difficult than she imagined. JC. Fluffy. First.
1. Public Displays of Affection

Flashback Attack

A romantic-comedy piece of fanfiction by Madam Crackerjack.

Why it's a romance: Jimmy contemplates, invents, and saves the day for Cindy. J/C

Why it's a comedy: I don't like being too serious with my stories, anyway. I'm no comedian, but I do try.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with this television series.

Author's note: For desired further information, check my profile.

Special Announcement: This is my very first JN fanfic.

chapter 1- Public Displays of Affection

Cindy cleared her throat, rubbing it tenderly. It was slightly sore from her last class: sixth-grade biology at Lindbergh Middle School. It was only her first day at that school and she already felt horrible. As it turns out, the sixth graders were at the bottom of the popularity food chain- except for Nick, of course. But even for Nick were circumstances much more difficult than in elementary school. No matter what the school seemed to throw at them (ie. gym class, tryouts, etc.) it was as if they were purposefully pitting them against eachother; the sixth and eighth-graders, that is.

Cindy felt wrecked, as if she had been fighting a neverending battle all day long and the best part was that she got to look forward to another series of struggles tomorrow. So she climbed the steps of her house feeling a tad bit depressed and anxious when-

"Cindy! Hey, Cindy!"

Her heart skipped a beat at the sound of his voice. Nevertheless, she frowned.

"What do you want, Neutron? I'm not in the mood."

"I forgot the biology homework."

At the sight of his sweaty brow and face, pinkened from running after her, as well as his tossled hair and clothes (which though they ascended a grade, remained the same as always)... she blushed a little, and it flared her annoyance.

"You-!" She paused, her eyes widening at how scratchy her voice sounded. She lowered her voice, "Maybe you should have paid attention rather than trying to be a big jerk!"

He looked a little serious, "I, I'm..." but it turned to anger, "Are you gonna tell me or not?"

The last thing he heard before she shut the door between the two of them was "numbers twenty through thirty on page seventeen."

Jimmy sighed angrily and shook his head as his hands began to ball into fists. In his frustration, he hardly noticed Cindy spying on him through her window. He knew the homework, of course; he only needed an excuse to consult his friend after a day like today. He wanted to apologize for what happened to throw her into a screaming fit earlier, but something wouldn't let him- something that even a genius couldn't figure out. Was it pride? He wasn't sure. All he knew was that there were things left unsaid, leaving their relationship tense and awkward... again.

One would think that the two of them would get used to the constant rollercoaster that was their relationship, but each time the track dipped, the days seemed just as dark as their first fight. But were the climbs worth it?

Yes.

This he could conclude as he recalled this morning, how they sat together on a bench outside of the school before being rushed into class for the day...

-flashback.start-

Cindy was wringing her fingers in her lap nervously, sliding her feet past eachother under the bench. Jimmy also looked a little unsettled, sweeping his hands across his knees and tapping his fingers.

"This summer was amazing." Cindy breathed out.

"Yeah." Jimmy replied, "But um, so.. just because summer is over," He attempted to look at her but shyed away, "It-It doesn't mean that the adventures are over!"

"No way!" Cindy exclaimed. She seemed to brighten up, "This is middle school- they're just beginning!"

Just then, the bell rang, signaling the official start of the first day of school. Some students trudged into the building while other were excitedly chatting amongst themselves. Jimmy and Cindy stood, their hands brushing up against eachother. Jimmy smiled a little and grabbed her hand, earning a giggle from Cindy. They escorted eachother into t he building, only to be bombarded by:

"Isn't that cute?"

"Is that that kid, Jimmy Neutron? Who's that girl?"

"..Little kids holding hands..."

"Cindy? Jimmy?" That last remark was made by none other than Libby, whom was busy adjusting her make-up.

"Uh, yeah...?" Cindy asked nervously, looking up at her best friend, a little embarrassed. She did not drop Jimmy's hand, but she did try to hide their connection by inching in front of him. Libby noticed this and smiled warmly.

"Girl, you don't got to hide anything. Everyone knows that you two are practically an item by now."

And although her feelings for Jimmy were natural, Cindy could not help but feel that their connected hands, which were currently sweating profusely, were symbolizing weakness in her character. This was something that her family did not approve of, and no matter how hard she tried to ignore the glares from surrounding "superiors", they reminded her of her mother...

But Cindy loved him.

She started marching down the hall, giving angry "what are you looking at?" glares to anyone who stared at them. She didn't care what her mother thought!

Jimmy, on the other hand, was confused by the whole situation. He could recall her blushing and giggling only seconds ago, and now something seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and posessed Cindy into a furious rampage. Apparently, something had struck a chord in her, but Jimmy assumed it was best not to ask right now...

He saw Sheen cruising by and greeted him with a wave, but Cindy pulled Jimmy closer, triggering a look of sympathy from Sheen but his concern only lasted until he bumped into Libby.

As they reared the corner, Cindy ran into Butch, whom was befriending the older, more advanced bullies of the middle school.

"Hey!" He growled, giving his best to look tough for the other bullies, "watch where you're goin', blondy!"

Jimmy looked slightly offended for a second, but Cindy caught it and quickened her pace, shaking her head.

"I've got to get to class, Cindy." Jimmy suddenly pointed out.

"Yeah," Cindy replied, slowing to a stop. Her anger seemed to be diminishing as she fell lost in her thoughts, "Yeah, sure."

Jimmy automatically moved to kiss her cheek, but seemed to have decided against it at the last second. His eyes darted around the school hallways and he looked down at his feet, a little embarrassed. Cindy watched him as he hesitated and she grabbed his other hand. With both of their hands connected, she leaned in and softly brushed her lips against his.

"I'll see you after school." Cindy announced, breaking the kiss perhaps too soon. "Maybe we'll go to the Candy Bar, or somethin'."

Jimmy fell silent for a moment, staring past Cindy in a daze and he suddenly shook his head, "Huh? Oh. Ok. Uh- class. So... bye." He said awkwardly.

"Heheh, see you later." Cindy dreamily waved after their hands fell apart.

Just as she turned around, she heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Hi James."

Spinning around, she saw that Betty had approached Jimmy from behind and she stood there, straightening her hair with her hand with a sweet smile on her shiny lips.

And she was wearing a push-up.

Cindy fumed. She stomped back up to Jimmy (oh yeah, class is completely forgotten by now) whom had a look of utmost discomfort, but the way, and she stuck a finger out a Betty. "You said you'd back off!"

Betty looked surprised for a second, but she laughed a little. "Oh, Cindy. I just wanted to say hi to an old friend, that's all."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's all." Cindy replied sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well, yeah." Betty's voice lowered a little and she shifted her weight nervously, "I wasn't sure if you two got together yet, so I thought maybe-"

A look of terror took over Jimmy as he witnessed a few kids scramble down the hallway in a hurry. He clutched his bookbag and bolted off, leaving Betty and Cindy in their heated discussion.

"Sorrygottablast!" He called out over his shoulder.

Cindy panicked and she sped off down another hallway, leaving Betty without another word. She couldn't be late on her first day. What would mother think?

Betty simply smiled and entered the classroom behind her, shaking her head gently.

-flashback.end-

Jimmy groaned and turned his heel on the asphalt of the street. He headed towards his own house as his complex mind reeled in thoughts consisting nothing more than Cindy, and his current predicament including Cindy, or everything that involved Cindy.

Do you know what Cindy asked just the other day? Jimmy remembered this suddenly as he plucked his hair to hold up to the DNA scanner to get into his lab. He chuckled a little at how lost the question made him feel, even when he figured it out. As he recalled the question, he could hear her sweet voice in his head: "Jimmy? How come our adventures aren't as fun, anymore?"

Fun?

Sure, Jimmy always wanted his adventures with his friends to be fun. Educationally satisfying, but fun as well. He didn't like to be a bad host, so it was in his nature to want to show his friends a good time when they went along with him to Egypt, or under the ocean, or to the moon. Heck, he would spend countless hours inventing things that would make the trip go smoothly, not only for scientific purposes, but also to spend time with his friends in the comfort of his own creations.

And although he wanted to ignore this, he knew that Cindy was not short of the truth. He knew that, ever so slowly, their adventures began to become more and more... boring. Had he lost his love for science? Had he replaced it with his love of friends, or even... Cindy?

Science and Cindy could coexist, right?

Suddenly, his head hurt. Jimmy scowled and rubbed his temples. He could not even remember the last time one of his brain blasts "went wrong".

"Okay, okay," Jimmy calmly told himself as he patted the air. He took a deep breath and looked around his lab.

All over were his inventions askewed on the floor or tipped against he walls. There were potato chip crumbs and empty cans of Purple Flurp here and there. His lab was a mess, but it made him feel strangely comforted. This was the familiarity that he enjoyed. This lab was where he could concentrate on anything but Cindy.

Now, standing in front of her house looking up at her window longingly was not very comforting. Why did he do that, again?

Oh, that's right. Love.

But that sort of thing is for outside of the lab. Jimmy grinned as he and his conscience made a "deal". In the lab Science. Outside the lab... Cindy. In his mind (which was extansively large and in charge), it all made sense to him.

With this new revelation, he suddenly felt something that he hasn't felt in a long time. He suddenly felt like... inventing.


	2. Biology in the Bag

Flashback Attack

A romantic-comedy piece of fanfiction by Madam Crackerjack.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with this television series.

chapter 2- Biology in the Bag

Cindy propped herself against her elbow next to the window and sighed. She watched Jimmy walk away looking rather sullen after his attempts to talk to her. She felt a little guilty after all that had happened to day. No, she felt really guilty.

Yeah, it was all her fault.

She sighed again, suddenly wishing that she hadn't closed the door on him. She should have ran into his arms and kissed him and told him that she would never leave him...

...Cindy shivered, swearing she would never think like that again. They were still kids and... that was just weird.

A tiny voice in her heart told her to go over to his place and apologize for being rude, and then open up a conversation about what happened earlier, in biology class. She wanted to get all of this terrible guilt off of her chest. She wanted so badly to hear Jimmy's assuring voice saying: "It's okay, Cindy, it's okay."

Because it was not okay. Cindy fidgeted in her seat as she glumly remembered the most passionate argument she had ever had with Jimmy:

-flashback.start-

Biology class sounded pretty boring to Cindy, especially when she looked around her and saw that most of the kids in her class were eighth-graders, which helped her hope plummet. She pondered this a bit, and figured that maybe she could impress them with her high intellect. A shred of hope was found. Perhaps they would even study with her had she provided a few persuasive answers?

So Cindy prepared to apply this new plan to this class as she watched one older kid walk into the classroom, and then another. Then, the one and only Jimmy Neutron strolled in, looking a little happy that the day was almost over. He saw Cindy; he looked esctatic.

"Hey!" Cindy greeted him and patted the desk next to her. Jimmy obliged and sat down beside her, looking excited to share a class with his crush.

"Isn't biology great?" He sighed, falling into his seat.

Cindy would lie. "Definately."

A short, puffy man whom everyone assumed to be the teacher walked into the classroom, looking at a notebook and mumbling to himself. He was balding, and had big, thick glasses. His clothes looked a little tight on him.

"Alright, uh..." He looked up, scanning the classroom. He paused when he saw Jimmy and smiled. "Oh, lucky me. I get Jimmy Neutron in my class."

Jimmy grinned at his popularity among the school board and glanced over at Cindy, whom was rolling her eyes.

"Cindy, could you move to the back, please?"

"Huh?" Cindy was taken aback. Did the teacher just request her to move for no reason? In her confusion, she muttered, "W-why?"

The teacher smiled a cheesy grin and sighed, "Ah, like I haven't heard the rumors of you two!" At this, Jimmy and Cindy both blushed, "My class will benefit from my lectures for the better if the two of you are separated. If I let you both sit together, it would be like letting a bomb tick!"

The class chuckled behind them, and Cindy was beside herself with embarrassment. She quickly grabbed her books and shuffled to a seat in the back, one that was very far away from Jimmy, unable to handle anymore embarrassing things that the teacher might dish out at her.

"Now, then, shall we get started?"

And so the minutes flew by, especially as Cindy's mind raced through how embarrassed she was from what the teacher had said. Sure, it might not have sounded very embarrassing, but the teacher almost announced that she was dating the semi-famous Jimmy Neutron? What if the rumor got out and her mother found out ? She didn't care what her mother thinks! ...She cared what her mother could do to her if she found out that Cindy had befriended an "enemy"! Oh, this was bad.

Cindy was constantly looking around the room, wondering if anyone was even remotely interested in her dilemma, but everyone seemed to be paying attention to the teacher. As she glanced up, even Neutron was calmly listening to the teacher lecture the class.

Then she remembered that she had kissed Jimmy in the hallway. That was her own fault, but it still stung her.

How could she be so stupid? She might as well announce to the entire school that she liked Jimmy Neutron, the boy genius. She might as well wear a shirt that said "I heart Jimmy" and eat cereal at the table and when her mom would ask "Cindy, what is that?" she could say "Oh, it's nothing, I'm just going against everything you ever taught me in life, mother dear"!

As Cindy contemplated on how terrible her life could become out of the tiniest of rumors, she suddenly heard her name.

"Cindy?"

She snapped out of it and looked up at the teacher, whom was staring at her incredulously, "Huh?"

The teacher sighed and pointed to the board, "Can you define a nucleus?"

"A neu-neucleus?" Cindy stuttered, blinking her mind into reality as she briefly looked around the classroom for no apparent reason, but catching the patient stares of the rest of the class who seemed to be waiting for her to answer.

"Oh um- the nucleus is the center of an atom!" She said, feeling a little proud of herself.

"Correct, Cindy," The teacher said. Then he did a double take. "What did you say?"

It took a while for Cindy to realize that half of the class was laughing at her. Her eyes darted around the room in horrid confusion as she realized that she must have said something stupid. Then, she caught Jimmy's gaze, and he seemed to look embarrassed at something. Then he started laughing.

He started laughing at her.

Cindy growled and jumped out of her seat. "What did I say??"

The teacher chuckled at the ridiculousness of the situation and motioned for her to take her seat, "Don't worry about it, we know what you meant."

Cindy glared at Jimmy, whom had stopped laughing, as he was surely smart enough to notice when Cindy was pissed at him. To prove his hypothesis, Cindy yelled out over the laughter at Jimmy, "What are you laughing at!"

"No-nothing!" Jimmy retreated with his hands in the air, "I'm not laughing."

"You were! How are you gonna laugh at me?? We're friends!"

An eighth-grade boy in the corner of the classroom muttered "well, technically, you're both-"

"SHUT UP!" Cindy shrieked at the kid, feeling absolutely enraged, "Who do you all think you are getting into everyone else's business??" She made a point to glare at the teacher as well as the rest of the class. "It's none of your business!"

The biology teacher suddenly looked serious, "Okay, Cindy, I think they get it. Could you sit down, please?"

Cindy looked very frustrated and she kicked a desk nearby. Before going back at her seat, she glared once more at Jimmy. He was looking up at her the entire time, and for the first time in his life, he saw tears form in her eyes.

For the rest of that class, Cindy spent her time with her head tucked between her arms on the desk, not saying a word to anyone. Especially Jimmy.

-flashback.end-

Jimmy was muttering to himself behind thick, protective goggles. "Green to green, yellow to yellow..."

_"What are you laughing at!"_

BZZT! Jimmy jumped back, cursing to himself. "Red to blue?!" He looked down at his hands, which would be charred to the bone if he hadn't have been wearing protective rubber gloves.

The model that he had been working on was fizzing slightly, shaking a little against the table from the shock of Jimmy's screw-ball accident. A little pillar of smoke streamed from where the colorful wires dangled from an open box on the model. He looked up and made an annoyed face as he pinched out a flame that had started on the tip of his hairdo.

"Where did that come from?" He asked himself, but apparently his canine-structured pal overheard him.

Goddard approached Jimmy whining ever so quietly and he cocked his head to the side as if to ask, "What'd you do to yourself this time?"

Jimmy looked at his friend, feeling a little queasy, "Don't ask, boy. I just can't get my mind off of some things." He looked up at his newly damaged creation and growled a little, "-some stupid things."

Goddard panted and shifted so that his screen was visible. "Cindy?"

"No!" Jimmy scoffed, grabbing a wrench. He thought about going back to fix his invention, but Goddard stopped panting and seemed to stare at Jimmy blankly, his screen still apparent.

Then, words blinked into existence on his screen: "...Carl?"

"No! Yes!" Jimmy groaned, finally turning his back on his mechanical buddy, "Yes, Cindy."

His elbow bobbed as screws fell out of his model and hit the table with tiny _plink_s. Goddard whined a little more loudly and walked up to his master. He gently nudged his leg and looked up at him, as if to say, "Talk about it. Get it off of your mind."

Jimmy sighed and grabbed his invention with both hands, shaking it a little. "She drives me crazy, sometimes! Why?" He asked, his voice rising, "Why do girls have to be so darn confusing? Why?"

Suddenly an idea hit Jimmy and he turned to his metal dog. "Goddard, options."

Goddard seemed a little pleased to provide options (as it was something that Jimmy rarely requested as of late) and he pulled his screen open again.

Words darted across the screen: "Give up on Cindy and try your luck with Betty."

Jimmy cringed, "Cindy would kill me!"

"Apologize for whatever you did."

He scratched his head and looked around the room, "It was hardly my fault in the first place... well.. I guess it was kind of my fault... but still."

"Invent something for Cindy instead of trying to ignore her."

A look of hope brightened Jimmy's face and he patted Goddard on the head, "That's a great idea, boy!"

Jimmy looked at his half-finished creation sitting on the work bench, still smoking a little from his accident. Filled with a new inspiration, Jimmy straightened his lab coat and snapped back his rubber gloves.

"Now..." Jimmy mumbled quietly, "Red to red."

_"This summer was amazing."_

"Blue to blue."


	3. The Gift of Gifts

Flashback Attack

A romantic-comedy piece of fanfiction by Madam Crackerjack.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with this television series.

chapter 3- The Gift of Gifts

Okay, so Jimmy was going to make a new model for a personal brewery- one that could make Purple Flurp, but he thought that what he had come up with after his little "revelation" turned out to be much more useful. He looked down at the box wrapped in sheets of cardboard and stuffed it into his bookbag, ready for another day of school.

He climbed onto the bus and saw that Cindy had already sat down, looking out the window and being strangely silent. He sat down next to her and fidgeted nervously, unsure of what to say.

"Hey Cindy."

Cindy cleared her throat and shrugged her shoulders, daring to catch Jimmy's eyes when she looked over at him, "Hey Jimmy."

She obviously felt ashamed after being so angry with Jimmy when most of it was her fault in the first place. Jimmy noticed this, so he looked down and saw her hand resting on her knee and he patted it.

"It's okay, Cindy, it's okay."

Cindy suddenly grinned, her cheeks slightly flushing pink, and she held his hand, "Okay."

So, it was all okay. Nevertheless, Jimmy could hardly wait to unvail his newest invention to her, but he would wait a little longer. Things were pretty pleasant, already.

"Um," Cindy started, but hesitated. She figured that she would tell Jimmy the truth about something, and she looked around the bus to make sure that no one was eavesdropping on her conversation. When she was assured, and comforted that there was hardly anyone sitting around the two of them, she began, "Jimmy, I need to tell you something... about my mom..."

Jimmy had given Cindy his full attention, that is, until the bus stopped and Carl climbed onto the bus, sitting across from them.

"Hey Jimmy, hey Cindy." Carl said, and then he noticed that they where holding hands. He smiled a little, "I still can't believe you two finally-"

Cindy growled, "Mind your own business, llama-boy!"

Jimmy smiled, "Hey Carl. How was your first day of school?"

"Well, my mom packed me a weird lunch that I never-..."

Cindy looked out the window feeling a little disappointed that her talk with Jimmy had been flushed down the conversation comode. A sudden tingle shooting up her arm snapped her out of her glum mood, however, and she glanced down to find that Jimmy had been stroking the side of her hand with his thumb as he chatted with Carl. She smiled, feeling a little lovestruck, and figured that since her mother wasn't on the bus, anyway, she could wait a little longer to talk to Jimmy about the issue.

When the bus came to a stop in front of the school, everyone climbed out of their seats and made their way to class. As Jimmy and Cindy left the bus, Cindy dropped Jimmy's hand, to his surprise, and left him. Cindy weaved her way past everyone to talk to Libby.

Jimmy looked around and figured that this was as good of a time as any to catch up on some of his other friends and find out their opinions of being back at school. He spotted Sheen, whom was not with Libby, but rather he was talking to a group of people that Jimmy had never seen before... possibly seventh-graders. As Jimmy approached Sheen, his friend stopped talking and pointed at him.

"Jimmeh!" He ran up to Jimmy, and crossed his arms, "Where've you been? I saw you yesterday for, like, a second and when I came to your lab you were gone!"

Carl approached his two friends and interjected, "He was probably with Cindy." A giddy smile crossed his lips and Carl continued, "They're in looove now."

"What?!" Sheen gasped, overdramatically, as usual. "I thought they were just study partners!"

"That's what they wanted you to think." Carl pointed out.

"You guys!" Jimmy cried out, looking a little frazzled. He looked around their group cautiously, "Cindy doesn't like it when people talk about us in public."

"Hey!" Sheen started; his short attention span suddenly redirected to the bulge in Jimmy's bookbag, "What's that?"

"Um," Jimmy slowly backed away from Sheen, putting his hands behind his back, almost as if he attempted to hide it, "It's nothing-- a project."

"A project, already? School just started!" Carl said, a little freaked out.

Sheen glared at Jimmy, whom was looking around nervously, "You're a liar."

"Uh- It's nothing, guys!" Jimmy said, afraid that if his friends found out what was in his bag, they would never let him alone until they got a free test trial of what it did, that was simply out of the question. "It's a... lunch... that I packed, yeah."

Sheen looked at Jimmy suspiciously, but before he could say anything, the bell rang that signaled that the start of class was near. The group disbanded, much to Jimmy's relief, and everyone headed their own seperate ways to their first class.

-

So, after a few periods of class was lunch and kids from all over the school gathered at the cafeteria to break, eat, and be merry. Sheen was unusually hyperactive today, making Cindy cringe each time he thought of something remotely exciting. By the confused looks that she would get from Libby, she could tell that Libby thought it was the cutest thing in the world- for a boy to go nuts over how amazing spinning rims were.

"No! I'm telling you-" Sheen cried out, flinging apple juice down the lunch table, "How do they get them to spin like they do?"

Jimmy smirked a little and raised his hands to demonstrate how the speed of the car combined with wind currents could propell something connected to a car tire, "Kind of like a pinwheel."

Sheen was staring at Jimmy as he explained to him, but interrupted him- "So what about that lunch of yours, Jimmy?"

"Oh yeah!" Carl agreed, remembering earlier that morning, "You must have packed a big lunch." Then, he looked excited, "Hey- hey, if it's a ham, would you share it?"

Cindy looked over at Jimmy and raised an eyebrow, "What are they talking about, Jimmy? I thought you bought school lunch?"

"Um," Jimmy mumbled, looking nervous. He had forgotten about the close call that he had earlier and he glanced downwards at his bookbag, which was still housing his newest invention. He wondered if now would be as good of a time as any. Perhaps no one would bother the model if it was in Cindy's possession.

"Um, yeah," He continued, and he smiled as he reached for his bag, "It's not really lunch, it's a present. For Cindy."

Sheen looked shocked, "It's Cindy's birthday?" He jumped up in his seat, "Happy birthday, Cindy!"

Carl clapped his hands and smiled, "Happy-pappy birthday! Oohh... I forgot to get you a present. Would you like my milk?"

Libby looked confused and tried to get their attention over Sheen singing a certain congratulatory song. She frantically waved her hands at the both of them. "Stop! It's not her birthday!"

Cindy gave Jimmy a confused stare. A part of her was pleased that he was going to give her a gift, but another side of her was afraid that it would be something that could be assumed romantic, which would make it harder for her to hide that they were close friends from everyone, even her mother. Immediately, she began to wonder where she would hide such a thing in her room...

"So, uh," Jimmy started, and he handed her a box wrapped in cardboard papers, "Here."

"Thanks," Cindy said simply. She looked up at her friends who were all staring at her curiously and she frowned. "What?"

"Open it!" They all replied simultaneously.

Cindy looked down at the gift, her eyes scanning over the crevices of the papers and the tape. It looked even a little suspicious without a bow or a name anywhere, but nonetheless, she gently stuffed it into her bookbag and stuck her tongue out at her friends. "I'll open it when I feel like it."

Libby looked a little jested, but she simply crossed her arms and eyeballed her friend curiously, respecting her decision, but she was of course disappointed that she wouldn't find out what was in that box for a while.

Sheen twitched, unsure if he could handle the suspense.

Carl had stopped paying attention somewhere in the middle of the drama.

Jimmy looked a little disheveled. "But Cindy, I have to show you how to use it."

"What do you mean?" Cindy asked, glancing up at him curiously, "This isn't one of your crazy inventions, is it?"

"Maybe."

Jimmy suddenly looked down, feeling something bump against his leg. When he saw that it was just Cindy, he looked up at her and noticed that she was smiling. "Thanks."

-

Jimmy was excited. Cindy's eyes had been drifting from his to the gift for the past twenty minutes as they sat across from each other in a booth at the Candy Bar. The second day of school was over, and not nearly as bad as the first day. As it turns out, it was almost as if no one had remembered that Cindy was utterly embarrassed just yesterday in biology class. The teacher even allowed the two of them to work together on a few questions out of a book.

In fact, the day went by fairly well.

Cindy cleared her throat, "So, about what I was going to tell you on the bus..."

Jimmy sipped from his chocolate milkshake and nodded, "About your mother?"

"Yeah," Cindy smiled weakly, "Um... I just think that you should know... she doesn't like you."

He grinned and rolled his eyes, "Haha, I already knew that!"

"Well!" Cindy started, "It's just that... I don't think that..." Her voice droned as she searched for the words to say, "I don't think it's a good idea if people find out that we..." She looked up at Jimmy, whom looked away and turned a little pink. "Yeah, that we're... close?"

"Yeah, close!" Jimmy agreed, and he cleared his throat, "Of course. Wait, why not?"

"If everyone knows about it, then my mom might find out and..." Cindy trailed off, thinking of terrible things. One of which included; "She might not let me hang out with you anymore."

Jimmy smiled and rubbed the back of his neck, trying to think of something to say. He could always tell that Cindy felt uneasy with him in public, but he just thought that she might have been shy about that sort of thing. Now that he thought about it, he suddenly realized that he had been contradicting himself the entire time: Cindy--- shy?

Of course, she just didn't want her mom to find out. That makes sense.

"Open your present." He softly offered.

"Okay," Cindy felt a little excited thinking of what it could be. She wondered if it might be something exotic or even fun. As she ripped the cardboard paper off of the box, she found herself coming up with numerous things. She opened the box and... she had no idea what it was.

"Um," She started to say as she reached in to pull it out, but Jimmy leaned across the table and pulled it out for her, holding it in front of her face.

It was a funny-looking thing that looked like it was the shape of a football helmet, but where one would normally look out, there was a black visor. On the side of it, in red, it was labled "Cindy. BT3X"

"I call it the Backtrack 3x." He said proudly and hopped out of his seat to sit down next to Cindy. "It's a module that scans the memory portion of your brain and memorizes each second of it. Here, lemme show you."

Without hesitation, or even the chance for Cindy to protest, Jimmy slipped his invention over her head and pulled the switch. Cindy sat frightfully still hoping that this thing wouldn't blow her head off (no, she has witnessed some of Jimmy's experiments gone awry) and she could feel her nails digging into the seat. But the expected pain was nothing more than a light buzzing noise. Then, she heard, all of the sudden...

_"Shouldn't we keep moving, Jimmy?"_

The voice was her own, but it was very loud. Some of the people in the Candy Bar turned to see what was going on at their booth, only to see a girl with a football helmet on and a freaked out boy with a large head, apparently searching it for the volume.

_"If we've gotten this far, maybe Eustace has, too."_

_"Wow, Cindy... under these moons you look-"_

"Ah hah!" Jimmy cried out and swept his hand over something which turned out to be the volume.

Cindy shook in her seat as she remembered where the dialogue came from, and she started to pull the contraction off of her head. Jimmy froze as he watched her put it on the table, looking around the establishment with fear clouding her eyes. "What are trying to do, Neutron?? Publically humiliate the both of us!?"

Everyone in the Candy Bar was listening now, and she looked around, her eyes flying everywhere except at Jimmy. She quickly grabbed her gift and marched out of the Candy Bar, looking embarrassed, but fearful. Jimmy quickly dropped some money on their table and tagged along behind her.

"What happened?" He asked after her, oblivious to what caused her reaction.

"What happened?" Cindy repeated him, growing a little angry, "What happened? Well, everyone just took part of one of my personal memories, that's what happened."

Jimmy scoffed as the two of them slowed to a halt and he waved a hand at her, "Nobody heard enough to recognize anything. They probably have no idea what it was."

"Why would you try to pull something like that, anyways, Neutron?"

"STOP calling me Neutron!" Jimmy growled, feeling alienized of his own name.

"I'll call you PickleHead if I want to!"

"What is the big deal!" Jimmy argued, "I just wanted you to have something that would show you all of the memories that we had together, of all the adventures we've been on," he continued, "with all of our friends, and all of the enemies that we faced together!"

Cindy fell silent. She wanted to retort with something catchy and mean, but her anger started to buckle like a wet paper towel when her eyes caught his. She looked down at the gift from a genius. No longer did it feel like just some hunk of metal that Jimmy brought up from his lab- it felt like something more than that, maybe even as if it was full of life. Cindy turned the model in her hands and her eyes widened when she saw the visor, which was no longer black. Instead, it had frozen to display Jimmy in her perspective, as they were standing on Mars underneath the moonlight, almost as if she was re-living the day. She could swear that something in her chest had started to melt.

Jimmy chuckled a little and shifted his stature, looking at the ground; he was a little embarrassed. "Yeah, I think I put the visor in the wrong way. You're supposed to see what's going on on the inside of the helmet, not the outside, so-"

But before he could finish, he felt the helmet hit his back as Cindy yanked him into a hug.


	4. The Fake Cough

Flashback Attack

A romantic-comedy piece of fanfiction by Madam Crackerjack.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with this television series.

Announcement: I will go ahead and upload the last two chapters. Happy New Years, everyone.

chapter 4- The Fake Cough

Cindy found that sleep was impossible.

She sat up in bed and her eyes immediately rested on Jimmy's greatest invention ever- the Backtrack 3x, which rested on her desk. She had stayed up for hours flipping through countless memories, most of them including Jimmy in some way, shape or form. She wondered if her mother would find it odd to find a football helmet in her bedroom, but ignored it. It's not like she could make anything out of it. And if she did, Cindy assured herself that she could think of some random excuse had the moment popped up.

It was almost odd how amazing that thing was. How could Jimmy have come up with such a cool little gadget? Certainly more valuable than some cheese ray or a girl-eating plant... She wondered what kind of inspiration he got to create something so magnificent.

And he gave it to her. The thought of this made her feel all warm and mushy inside.

Sometimes, when these feeling rose, she found it hard to believe that she was feeling them for Jimmy Neutron, her arch nemesis. Of course things are different now, but since they had first met they were constantly butting heads. Who would have guessed that they would end up feeling warm and mushy for each other?

Her mother was right; what Cindy was feeling did feel like a weakness... but she could no longer deny how she loved it so.

So Cindy fell against her pillow with a sigh. Her memories felt refreshed and renewed, and they were spinning through her head as she started to fall asleep.

-

Jimmy was exhausted. He never could put a finger on it, but something about being with Cindy all day always tired him. But that was just the funny thing: no matter how woozy or confused she made him feel, he always went back for more the next day.

He looked at Goddard with a pained expression and a weak smile, "Hormones."

Goddard shook his tail and panted. Jimmy changed into his Pjs and slipped into bed and Goddard made his way to his own nest.

"Goodnight, boy."

"Bark!"

Just as Jimmy was beginning to fall asleep, a tiny _plink_ awoke him. Then another. And another.

Jimmy sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. He looked around his dark bedroom, wondering what that tapping noise was. He saw Goddard, who was just turning himself on, and his mechanical dog slowly lumbered out of his bed, whining softly as if to ask why his master was awake.

"Ssh," Jimmy hushed his dog and his eyes continued to scan the room. Another _plink_ was heard, and he deducted that the sounds were coming from his window.

Jimmy lifted the window and peered out into the street, and a tiny pebble conked him on the nogin. "Ow!"

"Ssh!" Said a small voice, "Jimmy?"

"Cindy?" Jimmy gasped, leaning out of his window. Cindy was standing in the middle of his lawn looking up at him with a concerned look on her face. As if this wasn't weird enough, she was wearing her "flight suit". "What-" Jimmy swallowed a lump in his throat, "-what are you doing here?"

Cindy dug her foot in the grass and hid her hands behind her back, "I wanted to see you."

Jimmy blushed, "Well, I'm sorry but... it's the middle of the night!"

"No, Jimmy!" Cindy said, looking a little angry, "I want to talk to you!"

He felt as if she was pushing her limits with him as he motioned for her to quiet down and he whispered, "Can't we talk at school tomorrow?"

She urgently whispered, "NOW!"

Jimmy groaned and shut his window. Still in his Pjs, he slipped on his shoes and snuck downstairs. He pulled the door open, but ran straight into Cindy. He fell back onto his rump, surprised.

"C-Cindy?"

"Yes?"

When he looked up at her, he saw that she was smiling warmly at him, looking very calm and... lovely. Was she wearing make-up, again?

"Cindy," Jimmy felt himself smile a little, "Why are you wearing make-up in the middle of the night?"

Cindy giggled and grabbed his arms, pulling him to his feet and into her. She wrapped her arms around him as squeezed him tightly. Jimmy felt unbelievably uncomfortable, nervous, embarrassed, shocked, pleasant... Cindy brushed her lips against his neck causing his heart to flutter wildly, and she giggled as her fingers spread along his spine. He could feel his face burn against the slick material of her suit and he attempted to push her away, only to realize that the bones in his arms had somehow turned to pudding.

"Cindy-" He managed to squeak out, feeling as if his most precious of treasures, his brain, was slowly melting from the heat of his face. "Let go."

She did. He fell to the hard surface that was his front step and gasped, rubbing his bottom in pain. He heard her giggle (again) and she sat down beside him, draping herself around him and looked up at the stars. Jimmy, all the while, stared at her as if she had absolutely lost it.

"Aren't the stars romantic, Jimmy?"

He slowly attempted to pry her from him, "Yeah... sure..." But the harder he pushed, the harder she clinged. Finally, he gave up, "What are you doing, Cindy? Is this some weird way of getting me back after what happened at the Candy Bar?"

Cindy stared at him, (causing Jimmy to jump a little since their faces were so close) and she looked genuinely confused, "What happened? Huh?"

Jimmy rolled his eyes, "Okay, I'm sorry. There, I said it." And despite his slowly sinking pride, he smiled, "Well goodni-"

But as he tried to stand, she pulled him back down to the ground with her, forcing a smile onto her face. "Come on!" she grunted, "Tell me how pretty I am or something!"

Just as Jimmy thought that he might lose it, he saw someone stumble out of the Vortex household. It was a strange boy with a large head and a floppy brown hairdo. Cindy stomped out of her house a shook a fist at him, saying "This is the last time I'll warn-" but she paused, seeing someone else across the street- Jimmy.

Another Jimmy.

Cindy growled and started stomping towards what she assumed to be the "real" Jimmy. She approached his house, ready to ask if he had been playing with his cloning device again, that is, until she saw herself sitting beside him in her flight suit. Her mouth dropped.

"Wha..."

Jimmy stood, shocked that there were two Cindys, as there was no logical explanation after ruling out the cloning device in his lab, yet he found himself strangely relieved that Cindy hadn't turned into an attention-craving maniac.

"Cindy!" He said, looking around, "Am I glad to see you--"

"What's going on, Neutron?" She growled, crossing her arms across her chest and eyeballing her clone suspiciously.

"I-- Come on, stop calling me that!"

She threw her fists down, "I'll call you TurtlePoop if I want to!"

Jimmy growled and shook his head, "Look, I'm just as surprised as you are about this situation..."

His eyes suddenly shifted to his copy across the street who was tailing Cindy. The clone grabbed her hand, causing Cindy to spin around. He grabbed her other hand, telling her how beautiful and amazing she looked. Cindy started to smile, but she urgently pulled her hand away from the clone and cocked an eyebrow at Jimmy, motioning to the clone.

"See? This is what I just woke up to five minutes ago!"

"I- I get it!" Jimmy exclaimed, waving his arms, "Look, let's just bring these two down to my lab and see what's going on, here."

Suddenly, Cindy's clone jumped up from Jimmy's front step and ran into Jimmy's clone, falling into his arms. The two of them shared a deep kiss, causing Jimmy and Cindy to gag. Cindy looked at Jimmy, ready to slap him as if he had just done something outrageous.

"What in tarnation-?!" She started.

"I don't know!" Jimmy cried out, "I didn't do any of this, I swear!"

Just when the two of them thought that things couldn't get any stranger, two more clones were spotted strolling down the street, holding hands and chatting with eachother. Cindy could feel her blood pressure rising, as the stress of another one of Jimmy's dumb inventions gone wrong was too much for her to handle sometimes. She balled a fist and shook it at him.

"You're lucky it's the middle of the night, Neutron, because if anybody saw this I'd beat you into a pulp faster than you could blink!"

Jimmy was just as confused as she was, and he stood to his feet, scratching his head and looking around. So far, they had only spotted four clones, total... but who knew if there were more? Without thinking, he plucked a hair from his head and nodded at Cindy. "Go and grab the two clones in the street and I'll get these two," He mentioned towards the two in his front lawn. "It must be my cloning machine...somehow. Anyway, meet me at the lab."

Jimmy managed to force two of the clones towards the lab, partially by pushing and brute strength, with frequent explanations. Cindy threatened to drop-kick the other two clones in the face. It was easier than they expected, relocating the clones, that is. This was possibly because the clones were too busy worshiping eachother rather than questioning authority.

-

So without further ado, everyone was grouped up in the lab. The clones looked pretty comfortable, as their intentions stretched no further than eachother, but Cindy was purposefully ignoring the clones as her eyes scanned the lab impatiently.

Jimmy gasped, catching everyone's attention. As it turns out, the cloning machine had an inch of dust on it. When Jimmy went to inspect it, he also found that the thing wasn't even plugged in. He scratched his head, trying to think of an explanation.

"How could clones materialize out of nowhere?" He mumbled to himself, "There has to be some sort of-"

"Neutron!" Jimmy shouted out over the clones verbal abuse of over-affectionate nonsense, "What's going on? What's wrong with the machine!"

Jimmy growled as she interrupted his train of thought, "Do you mind?" He called out over his shoulder, "I'm trying to talk to myself, here! There must be some sort of..." He continued, his eyes staring blankly ahead, "...some sort of DNA regenerator, or..."

Cindy was tapping her foot, hardly unable to keep her eyes off of the clones for long. She was scowling, her arms crossed, and breathing a little heavily, and she was very tired. She yawned.

Suddenly, Jimmy shouted "BRAIN BLAST!" He spun around, facing Cindy, "Cindy! I need you to get the Backtrack 3x! Hurry!"

From his immediate instructions, Cindy would suddenly feel an adrenaline run through her tiring body, and she sprung out of his lab without a question asked. As she raced to her house, Jimmy looked around for a few things which occured to be a wrench, a screwdriver, and an extension of some sort. He hustled to his work bench and quickly slipped on his rubber gloves and snapped his goggles into place. When Cindy arrived, she came with guests.

"Here ya go, Neutron-" She growled, pushing two more lovestruck clones into the lab, all the while handling the BT3X beneath her arm. "One Backtrack and two reputation-wreckers!"

"Thanks Cindy," Said Jimmy hurriedly as he took the BT3X helmet from her.

He put it on the table, but he jumped back when something else started to leak out of it. Cindy stared inaudibly at the strange phenomenon taking place.

The helmet was laying on its side on the workbench. On the side, where the volume indicator was, there was a small nozzle that Jimmy had overlooked on the design. This was, apparently, where the Purple Flurp was supposedly brewed in the new brewery that Jimmy was previously planning on inventing. Out of the nozzle, leaked a silvery substance that made Jimmy cringe as he watched it drip into a puddle that slowly slipped off of the workbench and onto the floor. From there, it slowly formed, from feet-up, into a Cindy in torn clothing with small specks of dirt rubbed into her skin. She was smiling and looked around. Then the smile suddenly faded and she stared at Jimmy questioningly. "Why are we in your lab, Jimmy? What happened to the island? I didn't want to leave, Jimmy!"

Just as this new clone of Cindy was about to start crying, another silvery substance leaked out of the helmet and formed into a clone of Jimmy, as well in torn clothing. The new clone looked around and grinned, "Wow, we got home pretty quick!"

Jimmy quickly pushed the two clones out of the way and immediately got to work on the helmet. The first thing that he did was rip off the nozzle (that was a no-brainer, even for a genius) and he re-wired the circuits as quickly as he could. As he worked, he could feel a bead of sweat dripping down his cheek, and he tried as hard as he could to ignore the disturbing noise that came from the crowd of clones around him, as well as Cindy's constant whining and insults.

Eventually, he grabbed the extension (which was some sort of tube that hooked onto the helmet) and he pointed it at the clones, flipping the "on" switch.

Cindy could hear that familiar buzzing noise that reminded her of the embarrassing incident at the Candy Bar, and noticed that Jimmy had turned the helmet on again. As soon as Jimmy had flipped the switch that turned the helmet on, the clones suddenly melted into the silvery puddles that they had started out with. As the clones were being sucked into the helmet through the extension, she could hear her memories being played out in blurred audio that blared from the speakers in the helmet.

As soon as the last puddle was gone, Jimmy sighed and dropped the extension piece to the floor. He wiped his forhead.

There was a fierce silence...

...That is, until Cindy said, "Well, I'm not surprised."

"What?"

"You know," Cindy said, using her hands to express her exhaustion, "another experiment gone wrong."

Jimmy looked thoughtful for a second, and then he slipped on his lab coat and straightened it. He curtly waved his screwdriver at Cindy and said, "Not exactly."

"Jimmy-"

"No- Cindy, I can fix it." Jimmy replied, working on the helmet. He ripped open a metal door on the side of the helmet and pulled out some wires, "I know what's wrong, now."

He was pulled out of his tense concentration when he felt something soft press up against his cheek, and he turned his attention to realize that Cindy had just kissed him.

"What-" He said suddenly, dropping the screwdriver.

"Goodnight, Jimmy."

Cindy smiled warmly and turned to leave, thankful that everything was settled and that she could return to the comfort of her bed at last. Just as she was about to reach the exit of Jimmy's lab, she heard him say:

"Goodnight, PicklePoop."


	5. Lord of the Drama

Flashback Attack

A romantic-comedy piece of fanfiction by Madam Crackerjack.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with this television series.

Regards to Reviewer: Love to all that have reviewed my story, and thank you all for helping my inspiration soar. It really helps a lot. Greenleaf: I was somewhat worried that someone would ask this, since it does seem to naturally dig a hole in the story at first glance, but my explanation is simple- I was trying to build the drama of the situation by writing slightly in Cindy's point of view at that moment. Had readers known what she had really said, the feeling of her confusion would not be that strong, and I supposed that since it was not really a major part of the story, most people would read around it. But thank you for being observant and pointing it out. You are a good reviewer. )

chapter 5- Lord of the Drama

"Wow," Libby said to her two friends across the lunch table, "You guys look wrecked."

Cindy and Jimmy both looked a little tired from last night's business. Cindy had her head propped up in her hands while Jimmy easily slumped over into his arms, leaning against the table with his head down.

Carl chimed in, "They were probably up all night serenading to eachother!"

"Throwing grenades?" Sheen gasped, "I thought you two were study partners!"

"Oh!" Libby smiled and caught her best friends attention, "Girl, you never called me last night! You were supposed to tell me what that present was!"

"Oh yeah!" Sheen agreed, suddenly looking very interested. "What was it? A pony? Binoculars? A lightbulb? Special Edition UltraLord: Season Twelve with Director's Cuts?!"

"Yeah," Carl said quietly whilst glancing at Sheen, "I always wanted to see that, but my mom said it was too violent..."

Cindy smiled weakly and almost disappeared under the lunch table as she reached into her bookbag. She pulled out something in the shape of a helmet. The screen was gone, but everything else seemed to be intact. Libby raised an eyebrow questionably. "A football helmet?"

"Cool!!"

"I didn't know Cindy liked football... it's a little violent."

"No, you guys, watch this." Cindy said, and she slowly slipped the helmet onto her head, mindful of her hair. Then, she placed something into her mouth that the rest of the group could make out as a straw. Cindy pushed a button on the side of her helmet and a purple liquid oozed through the straw into her mouth. When she let go of the button, it stopped and Cindy grinned. "It's a Purple Flurp brewery."

Libby rolled her eyes and mumbled something that sounded like, "Leave it up to Jimmy to invent something totally useless..."

Sheen's eye twitched and his mouth was agape, "That has to be the most AWESOME thing EVER!" He jumped out of his seat and held his arms out to Cindy, "My turn?!"

"No way!" Cindy argued, but was smiling nonetheless. She held onto the helmet protectively, "You'll get your Sheen-spit all over my straw."

Carl lifted up a finger to interject, "Hey Jimmy, do you think you could make a replica?" He snorted. "That is pretty cool."

Jimmy lifted his head to look at Carl tiredly and then at Cindy, whom seemed to be enjoying his newest invention. He gave her a small smile and returned his sleepy head to what small amount of comfort his arms had to offer him. He had worked on that thing most of the night, but it really wasn't much of a hassle, as most of the procedure was simply removing some of the pieces of the model. But it was worth it, even if the tracks were dipping.

He felt something brush his foot as Cindy's shoe rubbed up against his and he smiled against the table as he mimicked her affections.

TheEnd.


End file.
